Michigan Made Beer Among 1 MILLION Kegs That May Be Lost
If you've ever had a party, you know you can buy beer in cans or bottles or if you want it cheaper, you can buy it by the keg - but once that keg is tapped - someone needs to drink it all down. That's why bars and restaurants and frat houses buy beer that way. But what if you shut all those places down? What happens to the beer?
Indeed. Beer has one job. To be in our beer bellies. What happens to the unused beer in old beer kegs?
Sadly, it looks like it may be ("Viewer discretion advised") turned into hand sanitizer.
That's right. According to TheKnow.DenverPost.com, Bob Pease, president and CEO of the Colorado-based Brewers Association, says,
We estimate there are over a million kegs (in the U.S.) right now that are sitting and going bad.
According to a story from NBC News, Larry Bell founder of Michigan's own Bell's Brewery says there were "50,000 kegs — about 6.2 million pints — of it's Oberon summer beer that were shipped to bars and restaurants around the country and must now be either returned or disposed of."
It's worse for craft breweries, because 40% of their product is sold on draft. Kegged beer remains fresh for 60 to 90 days, but IPAs last around 30 days. It's not dangerous after that - but the taste changes. And honestly, you can't just pour that much beer down the drain:
You can’t just pour beer down the drain,” Pease said. “There’s proper pH levels that need to be attained before it can be safely disposed so it doesn’t mess up the municipal water supply.
So, the Brewers Association says you can send it to a distillery to be made into hand sanitizer, you can compost it, or you could send it to your water treatment facility, but it would have to be adjusted to have the proper pH levels.
Or, you could buy a keg from your favorite brewer. And save your favorite beer from ending up being hand sanitizer on the palms of a sweaty 5-year old in Kalamazoo.